This principle also explains Obama's initial reaction to the Iran crisis. Muslims, like wise Latinas, are always gOOd persyns. (Exceptions: Irshad Manji, Kathryn Jean Lopez.) So in a Muslim vs. Muslim conflict without any Europpressive Crusader involvement, Obama didn't know which side to pick. Life is so much simpler when a nation has millions of scapegoats ... ice monsters who cower out of fear of being branded racist ... the ultimate no-no in Omerica.

We are shocked that craigslist has not removed this obviously Racist™ non-ad after nine hours. Where's our civilian security force when we need it?

June 29, 2009

HONDURAS: OBAMA FAIL

I am just completely flabbergasted by the events in Honduras.

A president decides he wants to be president longer than the law allows. His country does everything possible to get him to follow the law, but the president keeps abusing his power and acting like a lunatic. The country respects its constitution and decides to legally and justifiably oust him.

And Obama is siding with him?

I must be missing something, because this is insane.

Remember when all the loony lefties swore that George Bush was going to stage a coup and stay in office a third term? They went berserk predicting this. If it had actually happened, you can bet your sweet bippy that they would've used every channel possible to toss him out. And rightly so: the leader has to respect the law of the land or the citizens get rid of him.

But now a president in another country has actually just done what the nuts swore Bush was going to do, and Pres Obama is backing the would-be dictator.

2
my favorite part of the original statement was the respecting the 'democratic norms'

Where do these fall in order of importance:vote for bills you did not readaccuse and portray your opponents as terroriststell public companies how to run themselves and pick and choose which contracts they should follow and which they should disregard

It seems to me to be a recurring pattern with Obama. His initial response on pretty much everything is exactly the opposite of what any decent human would instinctively say. Time and again, going back over the past year or two into the campaign he has come out with a public statement on -pick random crisis-.

Within a day or two after receiving criticism from all corners his lackeys start to 'redifine' what he orginally meant. This is usually followed within a week by a direct statement from Obama himself taking the exact opposite position he originally stated, while claiming that his new position is exactly the same as his original.

This is going to blow up in his face at some point. His instincts are just completely wrong from the get-go and needs a week or two for his spin meisters to clean up his bad judgements. One of these days he won't have a week to retool his thoughts, and when that happens I hope it isn't something bad enough to cause real trouble.

8
I am very concerned (read that frightened) with his attitude, I think of all the things he and others were saying GWB would do, mainly declare martial law and keep on being president, and then have done the same thing they were against while GWB was president.

It only takes one word to trigger the prOper response from the One: "military". The M-word disturbs Him so much that He didn't use it to describe his "civilian security force".

I was initially surprised that Europpressive Hillary was on the side of the gOOd persyns since she is not a wise Latina womyn, but she and Obama probably learned everything they know about Honduras from the very same MSM that defies reality and deifies Him. Other viewpoints from nonpersyns like O'Grady simply do not matter.

Ruth H,

Anything Bushaitan did or was supposedly going to do was eeeevil by definition. Obama can do the same things as Bushaitan but the results will be infinitely better because He is a superiOr being. Iraq was the greatest crime of all time, but security operations (must not use the M-word!) in Afghanistan will attain new heights of nobility.

June 27, 2009

CHARLIE WANTS A BABY

When Charlie was acting all depressed, he trudged out of our room like Eeyore. "Where are you going?" I asked him. "What's wrong." My husband followed him and then chuckled. "Oh, I get it, Charlie is sad because he wants a baby."

Yes, that's our spare bedroom. Yes, it's looked like that for over a year. Yes, it's absurd. But leaving it up seemed less weird to me than taking it all down and leaving the room completely empty. (OK, mildly less weird. Also I'm just lazy.)

But apparently what Charlie wants, Charlie gets. After a week of doing everything wrong -- lots of booze, sitting in hot tubs, eating sushi, taking large doses of NyQuil -- it turns out that I am pregnant again.

We laughed that this is our "unplanned" pregnancy. My friend's mother, an OB nurse, asked me what my doctor's plan was now. Plan? There isn't one this time around! This was our Hail Mary. This was me looking at my husband one night and saying, "We could try this and potentially save $12,000...whaddya think?" and then completely putting it out of my head because, seriously, neither of us thought it would work.

I took a pregnancy test to confirm that I was not pregnant, before I contacted the IVF doctor to get my PGD bloodwork started.

I took a second one because I didn't believe the result of the first one.

We have no plan. I ran and hurried to take a prenatal vitamin because, let's face it, after two and a half unsuccessful years I had gotten pretty lax about remembering to do that.

Anyway, I'm just putting it out here because, well, this is where I cash chips.

I told my husband that my feelings about the miracle of life have actually regressed, gotten creepier. I was always a life-starts-at-conception person. And now, now I feel like we have to wait around and see if this becomes a baby. It has a 50% chance of being a baby or a 50% chance of being...a lump of mutated cells. I hate that this is what this process has done to me, that it's made me detach myself so much. That I'm like some gross abortion advocate who only sees a lump of cells. But that's where I'm at these days. It doesn't become a baby until it has a heartbeat. And even then...Baby #2 had one of those...

I'm just hanging back for the next three weeks or so. Hey, three weeks, that's when my husband deploys. How convenient.

So one of two things will happen. 1) This will be a baby, in which case my husband will already be deployed by the time a heartbeat can be detected and will still be deployed when the baby is born. What marvelous timing. Or 2) It will be a lump of cells, in which case there will be no heartbeat, I will take care of business because I am now a pro at miscarriage, and then I will start the bloodwork for the PGD and proceed as planned, only a month or two behind schedule.

Either way, whatever.

I know no one knows how to react to this news. I told AWTM over the phone and her reaction was like "Um, yay?, er, right? Hooray! er..." so I just decided to put it here instead. If you don't read my blog, I'm not telling you.

You can feel however you want about the news. I'd prefer if you didn't get too excited, or tell me that the fourth time's a charm or something. But happy's OK. And hopeful is good too. (Note: Do not tell me that this happened because I "relaxed" or I will ban you from my blog. Or I would if I knew how to do that. Even though this is our "unplanned" pregnancy, there was nothing haphazard about it. The day was specifically chosen to maximize success. We just didn't plan for it to work. Hence the booze and hot tubs. This is as close to a whoopsie as the Groks can get.)

At this point, I don't know if I'll talk about it anymore, at least not until Heartbeat Week. Not until I know anything for certain.

But let's see if we can get Charlie that baby he wants...

Actually, I'm pretty sure Charlie just wants to play with all the baby's toys.

And my husband says that if this baby lives, he wants to name it John Elway. (Now that's a bit of guy trivia that I didn't get: three Superbowl losses before a win.) AWTM says we should name it Bellagio if it's a girl. We got jokes.

My husband says he just really doesn't want a Jim Kelly baby.

(How does that man remember how many Super Bowls every quarterback lost but can't remember where anything is located in our kitchen?)

1
I am clicking with the nonplussed thing now. So there is that. ;-)I have happiness and hope. But stuff for the other side too. This totally made me smile at any rate. It would be super fantastic nice. And for this time when the scales aren't tipping noticeably either way, I'll be practicing some jedi mind tricks for it to go the way I want it to.

Posted by: wifeunit at June 27, 2009 03:08 PM (LXXeU)

2
Maybe baby's got plans for that $12,000 and so figured he/she better show up quick before you spend it

I know you've mixed emotions - I get it, but I'm still excited that you have this chance. I'll be following along and hoping for all the best for you!

16
Happy and hopeful for you and your husband, and Charlie. Maybe this will make Charlie cheer up.
The room reminds me of our baby room that we had decorated for 4 years before it was needed. I had the same dilemma about changing the room or leaving it ready for a baby. I pray that your room is in use soon.

17
At this point, we need to petition congress to pass a resolution stating that you are now pregnant, and will stay pregnant through term, including a 3-week overdue delivery. Because they'll pass any legislation they can't actually enforce.

We just need to figure out how to tax your uterus and they'd be all over it. (Pun not intended. Bawney Fwank would most certainly not be all over your uterus for any reason.)

No pork comments either.

And the more I think about it, centripetal forces at pole position may have had some effect. (Pun only partially intended.)

In any case, I am happy for you and just as excited as I am every time, just as hopeful for success, and just as worried. That is, "just as" being relative to how I feel, not comparing my feelings on the issue to how you feel.

22
I have to add that every time I see Charlie in that picture I totally crack up. For some reason that picture sets off the giggles in me, I can't figure it out. I think it is the lion hair-do he has.

27
Since I am a bit obsessed with your journey and since I too expect to one day have similar results from some sorta unplanned bizzarely normal yet, for you and I, very unnormal circumstances .... lemme say this: You totally Grok'd it. Makes sense don't it? {wink}Pat Charlie on the head for me. And give MrGrok a wink nudge.We all must meet face to face sometime. Oh the stories we could share!

28
Ha, Darla, you nailed it. I had sex when I was ovulating and it made me pregnant. Which took me completely by surprise. Heh.

Posted by: Sarah at June 29, 2009 06:34 AM (TWet1)

29
I will add my hopefulness to the others, plus I wanted to say that this post made me laugh-out-loud despite the serious subject matter. I love when you do the sarcastic dry humor thing, because you totally nail it.

I am staying with hopeful. The way this happened is quite different from the other times. Maybe you had to do everything wrong lol. I think that was your point at least. Go on ahead and ride a roller coaster while you're at it.

Ok, I could give a hoot about football but somehow even I knew that reference. That scares me a little. Love da jokes, Sarah.

I understand the detachment, at least in the sense I get your logic. I think I'd feel the same way in your shoes. My friend who is pregnant now didn't truly believe she was until the heartbeat. Refused to tell anyone but me for a while. And didn't think about the baby at all until she found out the sex. She had quite a baby bump and wouldn't even talk about it. Sometimes things just don't feel real for people, and it all depends on what is comfortable for that person.

32
Wow, that is probably more a stunner to you than anyone else. Like everyone who reads you, I am very hopeful for you. Life is just full of surprises and some of them turn out to be very good. I hate to tell you this but this same thing happened to my neighbors who never expected to get pregnant, had been married 15 years and WENT TO VEGAS (for a convention) and came back pregnant. Well, don't know where you were when it happened, but it happened and it's about time for you to beat the odds. That's my take anyway.

Posted by: Ruth H at June 29, 2009 02:06 PM (4u82p)

33
Here's hoping! I'm trying to imagine the look on your face when you saw the positive test.

37
I was going to write something better, but...I understand the need to be detached. It took a long time for Greg and I to stop saying "if all goes right" with the last pregnancy and actually talking about a future. So, I am sending you good thoughts.

June 26, 2009

DEPRESSED CHARLIE

Also, the dog is mad at me. Or depressed. Or scared. Something. Because he is not himself.

He supposedly had fun at the boarder. But he came home a tangled mess, so I immediately took him for a shave-down the next day. Maybe that was too much. Maybe dropping him off with strangers a second time set him over the edge.

He keeps doing this hacking thing, almost like a seizure. And he hasn't barked in two days. Normally he's perched in front of the window to bark at anything he sees, but not a peep since he's gotten home. He hides, and won't make eye contact.

2
Mamie does that as well. She doesn't like being separated from us for too long - especially not when she has to sleep in a kennel!

Ike doesn't appreciate it, but he's boarded enough that he takes it in stride. He used to sit on us and be glued to my leg when we brought him home, even if it was only an overnight!

One thing that has changed a lot about Ike is that he used to HATE the car. We had to corner him, grab him, and throw him in. Then we boarded him once. Then he realized the car meant he was going with us and not being left behind and now he loves to go for rides.

Dogs are weird.

Posted by: airforcewife at June 26, 2009 05:17 PM (NqbuI)

3
Is it possible he's got kennel cough? I believe that is something they have medication for. As for the not looking you in the eye . . . my dog used to do that after a haircut. It was like she was embarrassed about the new doo and she would hide for a few days until she got used to it. Seriously.

Hope all is back to normal soon!!

Posted by: rc at June 26, 2009 05:30 PM (89qJF)

4
RC -- That never crossed my mind because we got him vaccinated for it, but I suppose it's entirely possible. A reading of a few websites says it's something they can get even if vaccinated. I will keep an eye on him for phlegm/mucus/etc. Thanks for pointing that out.

Posted by: Sarah at June 26, 2009 07:45 PM (TWet1)

5
My dogs have come home before doing the hacking thing as well. At the time, my vet just told me to make sure they're drinking well and if it didn't resolve itself in about 4-5 days to come in. It did go away by itself. No fun at all, though. Hope Charlie's back to his old self soon!

6
wait... aren't you also coughing?
Maybe it's sympathy coughing.
In all actuality, it's most likely kennel cough. No matter how much fun he had, he was
1. stressed, because he isn't used to being around other dogs
2. exposed to a whole host of other germs, bacteria, etc from those other dogs
3. IN a kennel (even if it was climate controlled) that exposed him to a different temperature, humidity, and dusts/pollens/allergens he isn't used to.
4. Plus, he's tired. He's been playing his ass off for the last week. He needs a staycation.
Fluids and rest, he'll eat wen he feels better, don't push the issue (lots of treats if he is being picky). Baby him (more than usual) and he'll be his old self in a day or two.
I could bring Major over for a playdate if you like... you busy Saturday?

Posted by: Chuck at June 26, 2009 08:53 PM (aY7Ir)

7
Sarah, Chuck's points 1-4 could more or less apply to you too. Not that you were in a kennel, but you are stressed, you were exposed to germs, etc. in Las Vegas and the airport, you were exposed to a different climate, and you are tired. Staycate yourself too!

12
Poor little puppy boy, he looks so sad. He missed his mommy and daddy. And he may make you pay. Dogs are pretty good at that. But he also may have kennel cough. So like everyone else says, watch him closely.

We had two visitor puppies over the weekend, one old little one and one little young mini dachshund who has not been neutered. I wanted to do it myself because he just kept after my little lady Yorkie, who has been spayed, every single minute. My son in law finally swatted him with a newspaper he was reading. It didn't hurt him but got his attention and he let up a little. Of course that was two hours before they left. Our Sally had a bath first thing this morning because he would just grab her hair (it is more like hair than fur) in his mouth and pull her around the room, getting her all slobbery and dirty. But she enjoyed the running around and chasing they could do when outside. She is only 14 months old so she needs a playmate occasionally.

My husband and I went on our much-anticipated vacation to "somewhere other than our parents' houses." We took two whole suitcases and had the time of our life. My husband did a much better job of relaxing than he did back in January. The vacation was perfect.

Until the last day.

And all of a sudden, I realized we were on Block Leave. I realized
that the end of this trip signaled the end of block leave, which means
July was coming soon, which means my husband is deploying.

My husband is deploying in like two weeks or so.

And I wanted the last day to slow down, to last forever, to never end.

I love having my husband home. I need to have my husband home
if we're ever going to successfully have a baby. But three years on, I
miss the deployment feelings. I miss the sense of connectedness, of
purpose, of conviction. It probably sounds strange, but I miss the
feeling of sacrifice, of knowing that I've given up being with someone
I love for the good of our country. Honestly, for me, the deployment
feeling hurts, but it's a good hurt, a deep and satisfying pain. And I
haven't felt it in three years. I feel ashamed that I've lived too ordinary of a life for three years.

I welcomed that last deployment. But this time, it just kinda seems too soon for me. It feels like he just got home. That coupled with my lack of emotional investment in Afghanistan has made me unprepared for him to leave this time.

I can't believe he's leaving.

The IVF clinic called me while I was at SBL Utah at the end of May. I haven't called them back. I've been stalling. I don't really care right now. I don't want to think about it. I know I need to call them back and get the process moving, but I just don't want to.

I'm kinda incredulous about life these days. I can't believe what's happening to my self, to my family, to my country. It's like I'm in a bad dream that I can't shake.

I expected you to say that your realization it was the last day and block leave was ending and the deployment was closing in was turning on your bitch switch. Because that is something I think I kinda do. As stupid as that is.

I hope these next few days are good and slow for you guys.

Posted by: wifeunit at June 26, 2009 10:38 AM (Y8fCw)

2
You know my husband doesn't get deployed or anything else these days but I do have a real quick bitch switch that I wish I didn't have. I've finally learned to control it somewhat unless I have a headache, the cut ants ate my plants, it is too hot, etc., etc.

Posted by: Ruth H at June 26, 2009 11:21 AM (4eLhB)

3
I'm years from deployments. Way back when, women weren't assigned to ships, so I didn't deploy, but my husband did. My feelings about deployments changed over the years. As brand new Ensigns, who had met during officer training, part of the worry was, will we still connect when we come back together? In the Navy, it was a real concern. Many other couples didn't make it over time. Later, we had the history together of knowing there'd be rough spots, but we got through them. When he was assigned to a carrier, he was gone for up to 7 months. The 6 months before a deployment were much harder than any other time. The ship would be in for a month, out for a month, in for 1 or 2 weeks, out for the same, until the deployment, plus overnight duty every 3 or 4 days. That was hard. I have the most trouble trying to balance the emotions of trying to get the most out of the time we were together, and the distance needed to survive when you are apart. Routines were impossible. This was true before children, then after as well. I'd want to sleep or do trivia or just plain avoid, but I'd want also to LIVE and take in just BEING with my husband while I could, and I couldn't do both, not very well anyway. I admit to being very glad when my husband had his last deployment. Our 2nd child was born on that last deployment. He met his son at age 3 months. We laugh about it now, me presenting him for approval, as if he could be sent back. That baby is now in the Navy with wife and child. The toughest time is always that limbo time with big events looming. In your vacation posts, my thoughts were, wow, this lady knows how to soak up the memories she'll need soon. I found UP to be a great movie, and one line stuck with me. It was made by the little boy Russell about his absent dad. 'It's the boring stuff I miss'. This deployment stuff stinks. I know. And, that carrier did go into harms way, at least by Cold War standards. There was a Syrian crisis and the ship turned around after it had started back home, extending the deployment, tough time for those of us waiting at home. Coffins were carried on board and were used every deployment. Flight decks are dangerous. I don't know how the danger will be for where your husband is going, but I do know that you have something I would have paid thousands for - the miracle of modern communication. Mail took "only" 10 days. There was no internet. We got phone calls in port, and they were at sea up to 4 or 5 months between port calls. I got 2 MARS ham radio calls that I cherish. The ship linked to ham operators, you'd get a collect call, and they'd patch you through to your husband. (No women on board remember). They calls wouldn't last more than 3 minutes and only one way communication, so you had to say 'over' to let the other person know they could speak. My husband was notified by a 2 sentence Red Cross telegram, which was transmitted as a short Navy message to let him know his child birth date and time, and that it was a boy, his size, weight and that he and I were both healthy. You've shown more wisdom to date than I did. I isolated myself more. You've built a social support system. It's tough, but you've made what you need to tough it out as the one who waits while the other deploys.

When you don't have children, you spend a lot of time convincing yourself of all the silver linings about not having children. For example, you can go to Vegas for a week and watch naughty shows and do whatever you want. And when you're sick, as I have been since we got home, you can sleep until 9:00 and take naps in the afternoon and remind yourself that it would be so much worse to be sick and have to take care of children.

And I've done such a darned good job of convincing myself of all the silver linings that I am afraid I might have trouble switching my brain back someday...

1
Last time we were down here, my 4 year old daughter came into the room and woke us up.
"I feel like I am sick in my tummy."
(She'd been a hypochondriac for a few months)
"Fine. Go ahead and throw up."
We'd just gotten in the night prior, after driving from KS to PA, staying in a hotel for a week with the kids while house hunting, and generally being driven nuts by both of them for the last two weeks. We were tired.
The next thing we hear: the sound of a little girl retching on the carpet, right where she stood.
Nothing like being dog-tired and having to get out of bed and clean up vomit.

Posted by: Chuck at June 26, 2009 11:31 AM (aY7Ir)

2
I do the exact same thing about having just one child instead of two (or three, or whatever). As far as going from none to one, for me it so quickly became the new normal that the old life seems like it belonged to someone else.

June 24, 2009

PERMANENT PUPPY

When we dropped Charlie off at the boarder a week ago, the lady squealed and asked how old he is. "Wait, you mean he's not a puppy? You mean he's going to look like this forever?" she exclaimed. Apparently everyone all week kept asking about the cute golden "puppy," which has prompted my husband to riff off of CVG and keep saying our dog is Permanent Puppy.

They told us another story when we picked Charlie up that keeps making me smile. Charlie is deathly afraid of water. He hates it and won't go near it. The boarder put out plastic kiddie pools for the dogs to frolic in, and apparently Charlie desperately wanted to play with the other dogs but was immobilized by his fear of water. She said he would just run in circles around the plastic pool while all the other dogs were in it in the water. So they came up with a solution: they got another plastic pool and set it up beside the first...empty. Apparently Charlie frolicked and played in an imaginary pool all week beside the other dogs. Which really tickles me.

We're all back together again at home. About two or three more weeks before the husband deploys...

2
That is just too cute. I'm glad they used some real doggy lover skills on the problem.

Posted by: Ruth H at June 24, 2009 01:47 PM (4u82p)

3
Charlie the Permanent Puppy is Chuck Everlasting! As AWTM noticed, you perpetually look fifteen, so agelessness runs in the family. And Chuck E (not to be confused with Chuck Z or Chuck D of Public Enemy) even shares your aversion to water (#29 on this list). Species, schmecies, you're obviously related!

5
Lol. I think Charlie and Daisy would get along really well. Every time I go to the dog park I get asked how old she is; she's on the small side for a beagle, so everyone thinks she's still a puppy, even though she's 2 years old now. And she is also afraid of water. She hates the sprinkler, she runs if I turn on the hose. She's gotten to the point where she'll stand still for a bath, but that's about it. At least I don't have to worry about her getting muddy at the dog park.

Yet nothing is without deeper meaning where the presidency is concerned. The golfer in chief's approach to the game is subject to analysis in psychological and political contexts.

To some, Obama's frequent outings reflect a cool self-confidence. "Given all the things that are going on in the world and with the economy," says sports psychologist Bob Rotella, "you'd think he wouldn't be caught anywhere near the golf course. ... To some degree it says: 'I'm not going to worry about what people say about me. I'm going to do my job, and I'm going to play, too.' "

Patience, persistence and the ability to self-critique -- qualities that also serve presidents well -- are crucial in golf.

Presidential recreation plays a role in overall image management. As a basketball guy and golfer, Obama is able to demonstrate versatility and broaden his constituency. It shows he's attracted to both fast-paced team play and a painstakingly slow individual endeavor. It also reflects his crossover appeal in terms of race and class.

1
Everything Obama dOes is of cOsmic significance. When Bushaitan golfed, he was just a brute with a club. But when the One gOlfs ... ah, he is the cOmmander of the cOurse, the Titan of the Tee, the Paragon of Putting.

According to The Washington Post,

Obama's predecessor said he quit golfing just as the Iraqi insurgency
began to escalate in August 2003. "I don't want some mom whose son may
have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," George
W. Bush told interviewers in 2008. "I think, you know, playing golf
during a war just sends the wrong signal."

Whereas Obama, the cOOlest man on Earth, doesn't let a mere war shake up his rOutine:

He's hit the course five times since late April -- rushing out to the
links on Sunday afternoon just 90 minutes after returning to the White
House from his overseas trip.

Says sportswriting legend Dan Jenkins, who's seen a lot of golf in his
time: "I certainly don't want my president to be a good golfer. It
takes too much time and practice to be any good -- it's a very hard
game to play consistently well. I think there are better things he
could be doing."

What would Bunker say?

(PS: Is anyone else bugged by the little SNL icon at standard.net? It makes me think of Saturday Night Live, though there's nothing funny about this story or the site.)

I'm not really into O-bashing because I think it makes us seem as bad as the other side. But....here is what I found really disturbing about the article:

"Obama golfed on May 25 after he spoke and placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery on Memorial Day. Presidential aides told the media that Obama observed a moment of silence at 3 p.m. while on the links."

If I were one of the POTUS advisers I would have made damn sure that there was an all day schedule of events including military members and their families on Memorial Day. If he has to play golf then he should have included some soldiers in his outing.

Not saying he doesn't have a right to play a nice game every once in a while, but it seems like he does it an awful lot. I've played, 18 holes take a long time. He is fiddling while Rome burns.

4
Mare, I really don't care if Obama golfs or not. He's human; he needs diversions. What bugs me is how the prOpaganda machine spins it. When Bush stopped golfing, it was obviously a baaaad thing: "That's his idea of sacrifice, to give up golf?"

(It may not have been "his idea". He may have given up in response to public demands. Perhaps the same public offended by Bush golfing doesn't mind Obama golfing.)

I have always been frustrated by my lack of options. If you wish for the United States to look more like Canada or Europe, then please just move to Canada or Europe. Don't try to turn our country into something that already exists elsewhere. Because if I want the United States to look more like what the Founding Fathers envisioned, with far less government intrusion, I have nowhere else to go. There is no other existing country that matches the vision of where I want to live. (And the US today ain't exactly it either, but it's the best we've got.) Please don't turn my only option into another Canada. Canada is already Canada.

Whatever liberty we have right here, right now, in America … well, for all practical purposes, that’s all that’s left anywhere. If France had our freedoms, there would be no French here. If China had it, there would be no Chinese here. If it existed in Latin America, there would be no Spanish spoken here. And so it goes.

And so if we, here in America, throw it all away in a fit of panic or pique, then what we once called “America” will become as false as a fairy tale.

1
I feel the same way. I used to idolize Japan until I actually lived there. It's taken me a long time to appreciate America. Now I'll never leave. The gulch is here ... somewhere.

Green thinks people come here because of freedom. I would say they are mostly coming here because of the byproducts of freedom, not freedom itself. The biggest magnet is money - and the material comfort it can buy. Capitalism makes this wealth possible, but this fact eludes the immigrants who come here to get rich and elect Leftists. Very, very few immigrants come here because they loved reading the Constitution in their countries of origin. Even the politically minded may be more interested in using America as a temporary base of operations for dissident activities to liberate their people back home. Ayn Rand was highly atypical; once she came to the US, she never looked back (with the exception of her novel We the Living).

Immigrants in the past were no different. My ancestors had no idea what 'freedom' was. But they did understand money, and they came to Hawaii to earn it.

The difference lies in America's elite which has turned faux self-criticism into a sport. Nowadays Immigrants and the American-born alike are told what an eeeevil empire America is. (And they should take some responsibility for actually believing this nonsense.) Why should immigrants assimilate to such a horrible place when they can just take the goodies and vote for more supposed 'freebies'? They're not new Americans anymore; they're just new victim classes taught to demand their special rights.

Lefties have lots of options. They can move to Canada, or to France, or
to other socialist paradises. Sadly, though, they don’t—preferring to
try to replicate those
horrible experiments here, until one day, if Toren’s prognosis is
correct, we will be no different from Europe, or any of the other
statist countries.

Okay, let me make this more personal.

I have nowhere else to go.

Like Toren, I once changed countries to start a better life for
myself; unlike Toren, I don’t have somewhere else to go to now, and I
have no investments to fund a move (anymore).

This is where I am, and this is where I’ll have to stay.

Why do Leftists stay? As hard as this may be to swallow, patriotism may be part of the answer. They love America - in their own way - and want to remold it into their ideal image. But the more cynical may suggest a simpler answer: inertia. Why move to Cuba when you have a big house, a big TV, a big SUV, and everything in your language right here? How much do they really value free health care? Not enough to learn Spanish and live under Fidel. They may not like the eeeevil American empire, but they do like America the luxury mansion, though they'd love it if only it had a few more amenities ... at our expense.

Inertia is powerful. If you told me today that you had founded the Gulch and invited me to join you, would I instantly drop everything and go? Or would I hesitate and ask myself, is the world outside the gulch that bad?

How bad will things have to get before we are willing to flee to the Gulch?

June 22, 2009

I WISH I COULD THINK OF A GOOD JOKE USING "CHUCK" AND "POLE POSITION"

The other day the hotel phone rang. My husband answered and started chatting, and I figured it was his dad calling. After a while, I started to think it maybe wasn't his dad but I couldn't figure out who it could be.

Chuck had decided to do something nice for us while we were here in Vegas, something he would like to do if he were here. He wanted to get us races at Pole Position, the indoor go-kart raceway.

Totally unexpected and cool.

Also it was funny to hear my husband talking on the phone with Chuck like they've known each other for a while, when they've never actually met. Although my husband does call Chuck my "internet boyfriend," so I guess that makes them practically related.

So today we went to Pole Position. I assumed Chuck had gotten us one race, but no, he had sprung for two races and t-shirts for both of us as well! I felt bad about him doing so much for us, but it turned out to be a good thing to have two races.

The race consists of nine laps in a car that goes up to 45 mph. Your first lap is a practice lap to get you oriented, and then they kick the cars up to high gear and you're off. Only my car didn't respond. I was flooring my gas pedal and people were passing me on straightaways. I didn't get why 45 mph seemed so sluggish. Then all of a sudden on the fifth lap, my car leapt into gear! I jerked forward and nearly crashed into a wall. I realized my car had been goofed up.

Luckily I had a second race to redeem myself. I decided to consider the first race a practice shot to learn the curves and not feel so nervous, because I was in fact terrified that I would crash, or cause a crash, or hit someone, or overall make a fool of myself. So one slow race in the beginning was a blessing in disguise. And my second fast race was fun!

Chuck (and Mrs Z), thank you for treating us to a fun activity that we misers wouldn't have done on our own. We had a great time, and you really shouldn't have. We hope to make it up to you with dinner when you pass through town on your PCS journey.

And we're throwing a little change in the Valour-IT pot for good measure.

June 21, 2009

VEGAS PHOTOS

We played this penny slot game two days ago because we thought it was LOL cats funny. But this kitteh was not funny.

AWTM did not believe me when I said I took the worst picture of my entire life yesterday at Hoover Dam. For real, I did. Every time I look at it, I die laughing. It is so hideous; I have no idea how it happened and I sincerely hope that I never ever look like that during the course of a normal day. I blame the sun.

And because I am a blogger who strives to strike the perfect balance between narcissism and self-deprecation, I am going to share it with you. It is too funny not to.

My husband was scrolling through the pics on the camera and stopped at this one, traced a circle around my face with his finger, and said aloud, "Area of concern."

Photo after the jump, because it needs to come at you like shock and awe.more...

3
That is funny cute! So the sun was very bright, you just can't hide that cuteness. If that is the worst picture evah you are truly blessed.

I may be as biased as your mother and grandmother on that;D

Posted by: Ruth H at June 22, 2009 07:34 AM (4u82p)

4
Were you mimicking all your bus-bound traveling companions? You SO need to make that into an avatar, or figure a way to get it on your id card...

Posted by: Chuck at June 22, 2009 10:35 AM (meX2d)

5
You do not look like this routinely. Take, for instance, that photo from M2's birthday party where there was SO MUCH sun and we both avoided squinting (and now have the burned retinas to show for it).

I loved the kitty slot photo. That made me laugh more than the Hoover Dam photo for two reasons. 1) I said kitty slot in my head and 2) the editorial comments on the photo made me laugh.

I hate that I have to type this story. I wish I could tell it to you in person, with wide eyes and lots of expletives.

We took a bus tour to the Grand Canyon yesterday. And as happened when we went on a cruise, my husband and I remembered why we don't like being trapped with strangers.

Since it was a long drive to and fro, we watched movies on the charter bus. There were a couple of kids on the tour, so the bus driver insisted we watch appropriate movies. On the way there, we watched Marley and Me and Evan Almighty. You get the idea: family movies. And on the way back, this lady...

Wait, let me back up.

My husband and I were the first people on the bus, and we accidentally picked the worst seats. On a tour of polite Japanese and snoozing Italian tourists, we happened to sit behind the most hoopleheaded, annoying, creepy American family. I can't even do their annoyingness justice; it was just one of those situations where you find yourself unwittingly eavesdropping on their inane chatter for fifteen hours because they just won't shut up.

It was going to be a toss-up over whether the mom or the dad was the more annoying, but then the mom made a shocking leap into first place.

On the way back, the mom volunteered to choose the movie we'd watch. And on a bus filled with Asians and black people, this lady picked out Gran Torino.

I am crapping you negative.

Here's how it played out. Keep in mind that this conversation is being shouted the length of the bus, with the lady up front at the DVD player and me about 2/3 of the way back:

Lady: I really want to see Gran Torino.Sarah: Nooohooohoo. Not a good idea.Lady: But I want to see it!Sarah: It's not really, ahem, socially appropriate for this setting. It's very controversial.Lady: Well, what else do you want to see? No suggestions? Then let's watch Gran Torino.

Now I am starting to lose my cool and get knots in my stomach. There is no way we can put that movie in on a bus full of minorities. (My husband wondered if the Japanese people would even catch the "zipperheads" and "gooks." I said perhaps not, but everyone knows the n-word when they hear it.)

Meanwhile, I am trying to insist to the lady's husband that we simply cannot watch the movie. I tried so hard to be diplomatic, saying that while it is an interesting movie to watch and discuss, this was just not the right time and place. When the lady returns to her seat, her husband says maybe we should pick something else. The lady starts pouting. Finally, I lost it and said, "Whatever. I'm glad you're comfortable playing a movie filled with the n-word." Then the black ladies next to us start to get involved. I swear one of them went all Bon Qui Qui and muttered that she would cut her.

Thank heavens someone else must've told the bus driver the deal, because by the time I marched down the aisle to insist that the movie was absolutely unacceptable, he had already figured out the gist and put the kibosh on it.

But seriously, oh my lord. I about died.

My husband and I spent the rest of the trip giggling about other movies that we could suggest to watch: American History X, Crash, Deliverance, Pulp Fiction, and (the LOL suggestion from the husband) Brown Bunny.

We may as well have suggested porn. It might've been less uncomfortable on a bus full of Asian strangers than Gran Torino.

I hope this lady goes home, rents the movie, and then realizes what she almost did and feels like crap.

No more group tours for the Grok family. We're flying solo from now on.

2
What I don't understand is ... why was a Gran Torino DVD on the bus in the first place? Did this woman bring it with her?

I was surprised that Pulp Fiction was among the available choices for movies on my flight today. My neighbor was watching it. (Every seat has its own video player.) But I should have figured, since I was sitting behind someone playing Kill Bill on last week's flight.

6
I'm with Amritas on this one, what in the world are they considering "family friendly?" Good for you for standing up. Yeah, and I did wonder why you left the d off Grand when I saw that title.

Posted by: Ruth H at June 21, 2009 05:19 PM (KLwh4)

7
I don't understand why the movie was so horribly inappropriate. I would understand if you were objecting to the language or violence due to children. But to be worried that minorities would be offended I'm not sure I get. I thought it was a wonderful movie about getting beyond stereotypes and such. I would have been more than interested in watching that movie in that setting.

8
Beth -- By all means, I am willing to watch Gran Torino with people of any race who choose to watch that movie. But the key word there is CHOOSE. If you are trapped on a bus with no way to avoid a controversial movie, I think that's terrible. It's not even like an airplane where you don't have to plug your earphones in; the sound is piped through the whole bus. (And that movie would never be shown on an airplane.) The point that horrified me was that people might be forced to watch a controversial movie that they just don't want to see. I would've been equally pissed if they'd chosen Fahrenheit 9/11 or Religulous or Expelled (OK, maybe not *equally*...) just because I don't think controversial movies are appropriate for situations where people are forced to watch.

Posted by: Sarah at June 21, 2009 05:40 PM (JJVbW)

9
Wait - so the bus driver was worried about the kids on the bus THERE, but not BACK? SRSLY?

What exactly was this "family friendly" criteria that Gran Torino fit?

Perhaps that wife would have appreciated a showing of White Man's Burden.

1
My daughter and one of my nieces and I are regular readers of Rachel Lucas. My niece married a Scotsman and lived in Scotland for about 5 years so she really know where Rachel is coming from in her blog since the move. My niece sent me a postcard when she first arrived and said "everything here is quaint." But, on point, we all know the meaning of the phrase and its use. I thought it when I looked at something (can't remember what though) just yesterday. I guess at my age areas of concern don't last too long. lol

Then, after treating this popular revolution as an inconvenience to the
real business of Obama-Khamenei negotiations, the president speaks
favorably of "some initial reaction from the Supreme Leader that
indicates he understands the Iranian people have deep concerns about
the election."

Where to begin? "Supreme Leader"? Note the abject solicitousness
with which the American president confers this honorific on a clerical
dictator who, even as his minions attack demonstrators, offers to
examine some returns in some electoral districts -- a farcical fix that
will do nothing to alter the fraudulence of the election.

Moreover, this incipient revolution is no longer about the election.
Obama totally misses the point. The election allowed the political
space and provided the spark for the eruption of anti-regime fervor
that has been simmering for years and awaiting its moment. But people
aren't dying in the street because they want a recount of hanging chads
in suburban Isfahan. They want to bring down the tyrannical,
misogynist, corrupt theocracy that has imposed itself with the very
baton-wielding goons that today attack the demonstrators.

This started out about election fraud. But like all revolutions, it
has far outgrown its origins. What's at stake now is the very
legitimacy of this regime -- and the future of the entire Middle East.

This revolution will end either as a Tiananmen (a hot Tiananmen with
massive and bloody repression or a cold Tiananmen with a finer mix of
brutality and co-optation) or as a true revolution that brings down the
Islamic Republic.

The latter is improbable but, for the first time in 30 years, not impossible.

1
I never thought I'd be defending Obama - especially after my last comment! - but I don't see anything wrong with calling Khamenei the Supreme Leader. That is the common translation of his title, after all. If he had a different title and Obama described him as a "supreme leader", then I would be upset. But only a bit. Supreme Leader sounds evil to me and is a reminder of the sad state of Iran. It's not a term I'd use to indicate respect toward a head of state, though I imagine Obama's speechwriter was simply using the title without a second thought. What should Obama have said? "So-called Supreme Leader - snort"? If Bush-haters could force themselves to say "President Bush", I think opponents of "the tyrannical,
misogynist, corrupt theocracy" can say "Supreme Leader". The rest of that line of Obama's about the SL's alleged understanding is so much worse than a title I would have used anyway.

"But for a few nettlesome differences (like equality for women
and hostility to homosexuals), the Islamic political program —
especially the totalitarian version regnant in the Islamic Republic of
Iran — is something the American Left would be very comfortable with.
Obama understands this, and I think it is a better explanation for his
solicitude toward Khamenei than any hope of reversing Iran's nuclear
ambitions."

I'd like to see him expand on that point, as it's too easy to associate our enemies (the Iranian regime) with whatever angers us (Obama) even if there is no real connection.

I'm sorry, but I've just never bought into the idea that Afghanistan is the "good war." My husband has actually had someone say to him that at least his upcoming deployment is to Afghanistan, which serves a purpose and has meaning, unlike Iraq. I wholeheartedly reject that idea. I also disagree vehemently with Pres Obama when he said, "Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice..." As Neal Boortz said recently, all wars are a choice. None of the 9/11 hijackers came from Afghanistan, so please explain to me how Afghanistan wasn't a choice that was made.

I've been thinking about Afghanistan a lot lately, and I have a hard time feeling good about my husband going there. Frankly, I am not convinced that country deserves his effort.

[Petraeus] doesn't seem to grasp that, while al Qaeda was a foreign and
ultimately unwanted presence in Iraq, the Taliban's the home team in
Afghanistan. Afghan tribesmen just don't share our interests. And
Iraq's a state. Afghanistan's an accident.

We'd need hundreds of thousands of troops and decades of commitment
to attempt to nation-build where there's no nation to build.

Interestingly enough, my husband said the exact same thing this morning when I said I wanted to work on my Afghanistan post. Iraq had a history of being governed; Afghanistan doesn't. So what is our goal?

This very thing was discussed on the final panel at the Milblogs Conference this year. Bill Roggio, Andrew Exum, and Bill Nagle all kinda shrugged their shoulders and expressed an inability to decipher what the Obama administration's end goal is in Afghanistan. Even if you disagree with the shifting goals in Iraq, at least most people can articulate what they were: finding WMDs, bringing democracy, leaving Iraq with some sort of intact system of government. Can the layman come up with any proposed goal in Afghanistan? I can't, other than, um, kill al Qaeda?

And maybe that in itself is the goal. It is according to Ralph Peters:

Getting it right in Afghanistan -- and across the frontier in Pakistan
-- means digging fewer wells and forcing our enemies to dig more graves.

But when does it end? Americans squawked that we had no "exit strategy" in Iraq, but holy cow, what is the exit strategy for a war of attrition? Then you're in GEN LeMay territory: "If you kill enough of them, they stop fighting." Do we stay in Afghanistan until every terrorist is dead? I don't think that is really a true goal, certainly not an attainable one.

And I don't even think that is the Obama goal, otherwise he would not be doing this:

President Barack Obama's choice to take charge of the war in Afghanistan Tuesday called "significant growth" of the Afghan army and national
police the key to his strategy, but the annual cost of building and
maintaining the existing Afghan force is more than four times larger
than the entire Afghan economy.[...]"We are building an army they will never be able to afford," a senior U.S. military official told McClatchy.

I am by no means smart about these things. But it seems to me that we Americans are being naive about Afghanistan, even more naive than we were in Iraq.

At this point we again run into one of those quaint and always-wrong
assumptions that the West operates on when it intervenes in a Muslim
country. Whether in Washington, London, or The Hague, the most basic
assumption of nation-building is that if poor, illiterate, unhealthy
Muslims are given potable water, schooling, prenatal care, and voting
booths, they will abandon their faith, love Israel, demand visits by
Saiman Rushdie, and encourage their daughters to be feminist with a
moral sense alien to most of the Islamic world--that is, they will try
to become Europeans.

This, of course, has never occurred in the wake of a Western
intervention in a Muslim country. Islam invariably becomes more, not
less, important to the inhabitants of an invaded Muslim country, and
while improvements in water, disease resistance, and schoolbooks are
appreciated, they are not religiously transforming. We simply end up
with Muslims who are better educated, healthier, and more militantly
Islamic. This has happened in countries (Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq,
and several of the Balkan states) and in prison camps; in Guantanamo
Bay, for example, we are building a truly dedicated and virulently
anti-U.S. mujahedin battalion, the members of which will have the
best-cared-for teeth in the Islamic world. But through it all, U.S. and
Western leaders, the UN, and untold numbers of NGO spokespersons
continue to sell shopworn lies to Western electorates-that
nation-building will yield secularists who will desire only to live in
peace with their Western conquerors.

I think we project too much onto a people and culture we simply cannot grok. Our American mantra that all men desire to be free may just not apply. (Read The Places In Between if you want to be horrified by the Afghan midset.) And eight years into this clash, we still are making monumental and basic mistakes, even at the highest levels: US envoy Holbrooke just made an enormous cultural faux-pas. Afghanistan bloggers caught the gaff and flipped out; how is the "Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan under the Obama administration" making such mistakes while bloggers know better? (To echo J.G. Thayer and my husband, please show us that "smart diplomacy" and distinguish yourself from yokel Bush whenever you're ready.) How is it that my husband has arguments at work about the definitions of counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency, with the very people who are supposed to know the difference and carry it out? How can "experts" still be so under-educated and naive about something that's been going on for eight years?

I am murky about what I should hope for in Afghanistan. What are the benchmarks? What does success look like? What is my husband's role?

And how long will this take?

Steven den Beste a few days after 9/11: "The progress and spread of freedom worldwide will continue; this war
won't end for centuries." [emphasis mine, because the enormity of that thought is horrifying]

I find the whole thing quite stressful, and I am not ready to send my husband to Afghanistan. I personally thought Iraq was the battle of the long war I could get behind. I am having a harder time working up the emotional investment this milspouse needs to send her husband off to fight.

I am not ready for my husband to join a new front in a war that won't end for centuries.

UPDATED:

I meant to add this originally and forgot. I just wanted to put links to the blogs my husband's been reading that cover Afghanistan-related issues:

I linked here from the Castle. This past week, I had the pleasure of meeting a Major who flies Blackhawks and was working with the command staff in Afghanistan. She told me something that gave me a whole new perspective on war, especially the one in Afghanistan. In a nutshell, it is not about killing the enemy but raising their sights. Their standard of living. Their ability to have for themselves and their country what other western countries have. To reject terrorism as being self-defeating of attaining those goals. While we have always had that as part of the 'hearts and minds' approach, in Afghanistan it means that literacy is a big part of changing those minds and hearts.

It could take years, but if they can read and think for themselves early on, it won't take as long. I just wish that I could remember everything she (this major) told me, but I went away from that conversation thinking that we are on the right track because it is working, but instead of taking a generation, it will be less than that, and by that time, two generations will be affected.

As Americans, we tend to want instant gratification because we are sort of hard-wired that way. We forget that the Middle East is essentially not that way because of religion, culture and the tribes.

Anyway, excellent post and thought-provoking.

Posted by: Cricket at June 20, 2009 12:41 PM (odsR+)

2
I also came over at the behest of The Armorer. More preamble, I may come off as inna you face, but I shouldn't be taken that way. I just don't pretty up my words very well, and I appologize for that.
I remember quite well why we are in Afghanistan: to end the Taliban rule and other gov'ts of that country that would provide safe haven to trans national groups that would attack the US or other liberal democracies. That necessitated much of the same slate as for Iraq, sans the WMD issue.
I've often said that COL Peters comes from teh 'kill 'em all, who cares if they get sorted' school of thought, and that for every job there exists a proper tool. COL Peters and his ilk aren't the right tool for this job. HIC? Sure, LIC? Oh, hell no.
Scheuer does not ring true to me. He makes a broken analogy. In the past policy was governed, mostly, by the need to counter the USSR and Int'l communism. Which had disasterous effects on what was done in the ME. Things like support right wing jagoffs longer than was wise becuase we needed them to counter soclialist revolutionaries like those who took over Iran. Now is different. I don't know about the effect of 'smart diplomacy' but I do know that things that were done wrong, out of necessity, back when I was a kid are not necessity now. Such as remaining :eviathan in terms of military, we can now tool down to LIC and MOOTW---and do it right--- because there's no near peer competitor. We don't HAVE to ally ourselves with the likes of Noriega, Marcos, Pinochet, Mubarak, and Rhee---authortarian jagoffs who abused the people and made a great swatch of anti-americanism in their nations because we supported them---and can now take actions aimed primarily at what's best for where we're acting instead of some broader context.
THe same type of thing, the 'it creates more hardcore followers', can be said about the mob. There does exist an inflection point where you aren't creating more of x by acting. It's a long, hard, tear filled slog to point. BUt it's a road once set upon turning off of leaves a greater problem than staying on(see Somalia, et all in his list, where we ended our commitments and things went kablooie).
I pray that we'll see our loved ones come out of this healthy and whole. I don't think God listens to me much, but I'll add what weight I can in Him looking after yours. Take care.

I could go on and on, but I have to go to breakfast, and then the airport, so for now, I'll just respond to Cricket. Given the failure of government programs to uplift Americans in America, would a gigantic multi-generational American government uplift program have a chance to succeed in a foreign country? I'm pretty sure the answer is no. Maybe a new Iran is the best hope for a better Afghanistan. More later.

"I will never tell the city why I appointed these three hundred. I will never tell the Three Hundred themselves. But I now tell you.

"I chose them not for their own valor, lady, but for that of their women...

"Greece stands now on her most perilous hour. If she saves herself, it will not be at the Gates ...but later, in battles yet to come, by land and sea.Then Greece, if the gods will it, will preserve herself...

"When the battle is over, when the 300 have gone down to death, then will all Greece look to the Spartans, to see how they bear it.

"But who, ladies, who will the Spartans look to? To you. To you and the other wives and mothers, sisters and daughters of the fallen.

"If they behold your hearts riven and broken with grief, they too will break. And Greece will break with them. But if you bear up, dry-eyed, not alone enduring your loss but seizing it with contempt for it's agony and embracing it as the honor that it is in truth, then Sparta will stand and all Hellas will stand behind her.

"Why have I nominated you, lady, to bear up beneath this most terrible of trials, you and your sisters of the Three Hundred? Because you can."

- Leonidas, in Stephen Pressfield's Gates of Fire.

Posted by: Greyhawk at June 20, 2009 10:25 PM (/tYJS)

6
I think that the fundamental difference between Iraq and Afghanistan is the fact the Iraq, for good or ill, had a working infrastructure, and Iraqis have far less to go to re-establish a working infrastructure, whereas the Afghanis, at least the ones who we have to convince, are still working with a 13th century mentality, and it's going to take much low intensity education to brink these guys up to the level where they can even appreciate what we're trying to do for them.

7
Why are we in Afghanistan? If I had much more time - I would start with "Because the New York Times refused to hire a third rate stringer named Karl Marx," and lay out 19th and 20th Century history from there. But that would necessarily omit the most important part. Human nature.

And that's something that is better learned by observation than from a book. Or a web page. For this question, perhaps the best basic text would be Aristotle's Politics. But Aristotle was far from politically correct.

Since you use Robert Heinlein's grok properly - a couple of bucks at the used book store should buy a copy of Heinlein's Starship Trooper. The basics are there, and expanded upon in his Time Enough for Love. As they are in his collected short stories, The Past Through Tomorrow.

Or pick up a copy of Rose Wilder Lane's "The Discovery of Freedom." When it was new our Civics Teacher assigned it to my class. The 1850's history Mrs. Lane used was outdated when the book was written - but her conclusions are exactly right. So it's worth a read

You should be able to finish all three in a couple of afternoons, although you might skip parts of "Love."

But basically, we are in Afghanistan because our eventual survival depends on it. Not our survival as a country - our personal survival. The survival of yourself and of your children. And of everyone around you and their children.

Because the aim of the Talib and other Islamic groups is to enslave the rest of the world. Ostensibly for Allah - actually for their own power and profit. And that puts all our lives in peril.

Another sometime-denizen of the Castle checking in. Your post gave me chills of the worst sort, after seeing transports streaming out of McChord AFB on Saturday. I know holidays don't REALLY mean much in the grand scheme of things, but, the day before Father's day, away they go. To what end? How do we end the very last membef of the Taliban? Do we need to end the people that replace them too?

We need to start confronting the president at his events. We need civil
disobedience. We need to tell him we do not want another fricking
speech where he tells us he is a fierce advocate for our rights, when
that is quite plainly at this point not true. [...] I worked my ass off to get this man to power.

Now don't get me wrong, I am happy that Democrats are pointing out Obama's flaws. I did the same with Bush. (Oh, and that link is hilarious: Andrew Sullivan was a different man five years ago.) I encourage Democrats to speak out when their guy is not representing them. I want them to see Pres Obama for who he really is, not some blank slate they project onto.

But I find the "this isn't the change we could believe in" remorse to be amusing.

"We need to start asking ourselves, what were we thinking? Were we thinking?"

I have not read Sullivan in years. This piece makes him sound like a one-issue guy (which he isn't). It embodies identity politics. It's all about my X-ness, and I'm gonna be unhappy until others affirm my rights as an X.

But when you hear Democrats criticize Obama, keep in mind that the enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend. Many readers of this site might think Obama goes too far, but some of Obama's Democrat critics think he doesn't go far enough.

We saw the show six years ago when we were here, and it was clever: swashbuckling, cannon battles, proper action. But then someone at Treasure Island thought, "You know what this pirate show needs? Thongs." And now, it's a Britney Spears video with a pirate theme. Ugh.

However, it did end up being a good platform for some movie quote jokes. My husband worked in the following:"They're gonna love him up and turn him into a horny toad.""That's not pirates, that's ass.""Let me guess, he fixes the cable?"

Dear Treasure Island: The addition of skanky girls does not automatically improve every single thing in Las Vegas. I'm just sayin'.

June 18, 2009

UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS

There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know
there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things
we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we
don't know we don't know.

Rummy was right. Last night I encountered an unknown unknown, something I did not know I had never seen because the thought never crossed my mind. I didn't know what I was missing until I encountered it.

If you have never seen a contortionist pole dance, then you have no idea what you've never seen.

Search Thingy

There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living.--The Count of Monte Cristo--

While our troops go out to defend our country, it is incumbent upon us to make the country worth defending.--Deskmerc--

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Contrary to what you've just seen, war is neither glamorous nor fun. There are no winners, only losers. There are no good wars, with the following exceptions: The American Revolution, WWII, and the Star Wars Trilogy.--Bart Simpson--

If you want to be a peacemaker, you've gotta learn to kick ass.--Sheriff of East Houston, Superman II--

Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion. You just leave a lot of useless noisy baggage behind.--Jed Babbin--

Dante once said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality.--President John F. Kennedy--

War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours.--General Patton--

Those who threaten us and kill innocents around the world do not need to be treated more sensitively. They need to be destroyed.--Dick Cheney--

The Flag has to come first if freedom is to survive.--Col Steven Arrington--

The purpose of diplomacy isn't to make us feel good about Eurocentric diplomatic skills, and having countries from the axis of chocolate tie our shoelaces together does nothing to advance our infantry.--Sir George--

I just don't care about the criticism I receive every day, because I know the cause I defend is right.--Oriol--

It's days like this when we're reminded that freedom isn't free.--Chaplain Jacob--

Bumper stickers aren't going to accomplish some of the missions this country is going to face.--David Smith--

The success of multilateralism is measured not merely by following a process, but by achieving results.--President Bush--

Live and act within the limit of your knowledge and keep expanding it to the limit of your life.
--John Galt--

First, go buy a six pack and swig it all down. Then, watch Ace Ventura. And after that, buy a Hard Rock Cafe shirt and come talk to me. You really need to lighten up, man.
--Sminklemeyer--

If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained -- we must fight!--Patrick Henry--

America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.--President George W. Bush--

are usually just cheerleading sessions, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing but a soothing reduction in blood pressure brought about by the narcotic high of being agreed with.--Bill Whittle

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
--John Stuart Mill--

We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle, our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming force on the other.--General George Marshall--

We can continue to try and clean up the gutters all over the world and spend all of our resources looking at just the dirty spots and trying to make them clean. Or we can lift our eyes up and look into the skies and move forward in an evolutionary way.
--Buzz Aldrin--

America is the greatest, freest and most decent society in existence. It is an oasis of goodness in a desert of cynicism and barbarism. This country, once an experiment unique in the world, is now the last best hope for the world.
--Dinesh D'Souza--

Recent anti-Israel protests remind us again of our era's peculiar alliance: the most violent, intolerant, militantly religious movement in modern times has the peace movement on its side.--James Lileks--

As a wise man once said: we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
Unless the price is too high, the burden too great, the hardship too hard, the friend acts disproportionately, and the foe fights back. In which case, we need a timetable.
--James Lileks--

I am not willing to kill a man so that he will agree with my faith, but I am prepared to kill a man so that he cannot force my compatriots to submit to his.
--Froggy--

You can say what you want about President Bush; but the truth is that he can take a punch. The man has taken a swift kick in the crotch for breakfast every day for 6 years and he keeps getting up with a smile in his heart and a sense of swift determination to see the job through to the best of his abilties.
--Varifrank--

In a perfect world, We'd live in peace and love and harmony with each oither and the world, but then, in a perfect world, Yoko would have taken the bullet.
--SarahBellum--

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.--Ronald Reagan--

America is rather like life. You can usually find in it what you look for. It will probably be interesting, and it is sure to be large.--E.M. Forster--

Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life. It is far better that you fear the media, for they will steal your HONOR. That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse.--Mark Twain--

The Enlightenment was followed by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, which touched every European state, sparked vicious guerrilla conflicts across the Continent and killed millions. Then, things really turned ugly after the invention of soccer.--Iowahawk--

Every time I meet an Iraqi Army Soldier or Policeman that I haven't met before, I shake his hand and thank him for his service. Many times I am thanked for being here and helping his country. I always tell them that free people help each other and that those that truly value freedom help those seeking it no matter the cost.--Jack Army--

Right, left - the terms are useless nowadays anyway. There are statists, and there are individualists. There are pessimists, and optimists. There are people who look backwards and trust in the West, and those who look forward and trust in The World. Those are the continuums that seem to matter the most right now.--Lileks--

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
--Winston Churchill--

A man or a nation is not placed upon this earth to do merely what is pleasant and what is profitable. It is often called upon to carry out what is both unpleasant and unprofitable, but if it is obviously right it is mere shirking not to undertake it.--Arthur Conan Doyle--

A man who has nothing which he cares about more than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the existing of better men than himself.--John Stuart Mill--

After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference."--Dave Grossman--

At heart I’m a cowboy; my attitude is if they’re not going to stand up and fight for what they believe in then they can go pound sand.--Bill Whittle--

A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.--Alexander Tyler--

By that time a village half-wit could see what generations of professors had pretended not to notice.--Atlas Shrugged--

I kept asking Clarence why our world seemed to be collapsing and everything seemed so shitty. And he'd say, "That's the way it goes, but don't forget, it goes the other way too."--Alabama Worley--

So Bush is history, and we have a new president who promises to heal the planet, and yet the jihadists don’t seem to have got the Obama message that there are no enemies, just friends we haven’t yet held talks without preconditions with.
--Mark Steyn--

"I had started alone in this journey called life, people started
gathering up on the way, and the caravan got bigger everyday."--Urdu couplet

The book and the sword are the two things that control the world. We either gonna control them through knowledge and influence their minds, or we gonna bring the sword and take their heads off.--RZA--

It's a daily game of public Frogger, hopping frantically to avoid being crushed under the weight of your own narcissism, banality, and plain old stupidity.--Mary Katharine Ham--

There are more instances of the abridgment of freedoms
of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.--James Madison--

It is in the heat of emotion that good people must remember to stand on principle.--Larry Elder--

Please show this to the president and ask him to remember the wishes of the forgotten man, that is, the one who dared to vote against him. We expect to be tramped on but we do wish the stepping would be a little less hard.--from a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt--

The world economy depends every day on some engineer, farmer, architect, radiator shop owner, truck driver or plumber getting up at 5AM, going to work, toiling hard, and producing real wealth so that an array of bureaucrats, regulators, and redistributors can manage the proper allotment of much of the natural largess produced.--VDH--

Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of children that they miss the glory of parenthood, just as the grandeur of the trees is lost when raking leaves.--Marcelene Cox--